Monday, March 19, 2012

Week Ending March 18

Mon - Noon: 7 miles (1,900') easy Horsetooth summit. Beautiful day + spring break + noon outing = major crowds on trail. But I still couldn't resist a trip to the top. Up Rock, down Audra/Southridge. I always feel like a bit of jerk running up popular trails when there are tons of people to pass - almost like I'm trying to show off or something - but wadda ya gonna do? Just another day at the office. Serious spring fever today. PM: 8.5 miles (800'). Out and back from Bluesky TH to Arthurs TH. Legs feel remarkably good post Salida.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. Jane's group for a cemetery session. On tap was: mile, 2x800, mile, 2x800, 1.5 mile. All on 2-3 min recovery. Post Salida, my legs have been feeling next to no soreness, but a full-on effort would certainly have been a poor decision for this morning. Went at a hard tempo effort with Chris M instead and held up pretty well once the legs were in gear: 5:27, 2:40, 2:38, 5:21, 2:41, 2:39, 8:12 (5:27, 2:45). 2.5 mile w-u, .75 mile c-d, then champagne and cake to celebrate John Lonsdale's retirement from 34 years of running Foot of the Rockies, Fort Collins' first running specialty store.PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy Horsetooth summit. Up Rock, down Audra/Southridge. Another gorgeous day. Nice and easy.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hills steady. Five mile O&B on Centennial. Came back in a steady ~34 to leave something in the tank for Saturday. Mike, Slush, Celeste and the wunderdog. PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Sun - 37 miles (7,500') long. Had a really fun morning running a lap around the reservoir - the long way - with Burch, Pedatella, Tiernan and Kosick, in addition to meeting up with other friends along the way. After a week of really warm weather, the trails were essentially clear, which made the outing all the better. We went easy to steady the whole way around with a few lingering stops on top of Horsetooth and Arthurs, in addition to the Lory Visitors Center. The morning was capped off with a great spread of food and beverages at the May's house.

All four of us will be at WS100 this summer. Pedatella on pacing duties and the other three racing. Tiernan and Burch are strong right now. Prediction: all three in the top 10. Image 2: Under Horsetooth on Westridge. Pics: Erskine

From top Arthurs. About half way around the Reservoir on the west side. Pic: Burch

Refueling at the Lory Visitors Center. Pic: Erskine

Finish line. Pic: Alex May

Fail. Pic: Erskine

Total: 115 miles (19,000')

We were treated to an early taste of spring this past week, which made for a great week for running, capped off with a full morning on some of my favorite trails on Sunday. Next FCTR outing is the Spring Round Up on April 7: 30 miles, 10,000 feet, one summit (of Round Mountain). Mark your calendars.

Andy - That's a good question and the reason we run these things. I'm hoping you'll be ready to try and grab one. Interesting field this year, with lots of variables to ponder, but I'm not going there just yet.

Nick - yeah, maybe. It was somewhere between 6,500' and 7,000' I think, so we'll just round that up to 8k'.

Kilian, Wolfe, Kaburaki, Olson, Sharman, Koerner and Roes if he's running. Not in that order. None of us is allowed to put AJW on the Top 10 list this year, because nobody ever does, so that way we can keep the streak and karma alive.

OK, I like both those lists, but there will be no snow, we'll be running the Real Course, and I just heard today it's going to be 2006 temperatures all over again. You guys remember what that was like?

Andy - we'll see what late March and April bring in terms of snow, but certainly things are looking good right now for a snow-free year. As to your long range weather forecast, I think that guarantees that we'll be running under overcast skies in 70 degree weather.

Heat or no heat, it's 100 miles against a bunch of dudes who want to win. It's already a given in my mind that it will be monumentally hard and painful ... and that's why we keep coming back ...